1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hair clip and more particularly to an ornamental hair clip for retaining hairs by and between two metal sheets by a spring force.
2. Prior Art
There are many kinds of hair clips known in the art, and disclosed for example in Japanese Utility Model Publication (unexamined) Nos.45-3321, 50-47698, 50-154195, 57-55403 and 61-174504. Those prior art hair clips generally comprise a base plate fixed to an ornamental cover, a downwardly curved and band-shaped spring board whose both ends are fixed to the base plate, and a band-shaped retainer operably disposed beneath the spring board. The retainer has a fixed end pivoted to a pair of brackets protruding from one end of the base plate, and also has a movable end formed with an engaging part which is releasably latched to a pair of hooks provided at the other end of the base plate.
These prior art hair clips retain hairs by and between the spring board and the retainer, with the engaging part thereof being held in place by the hooks. When the hairs are to be released from the clip, the movable end of the retainer is unlatched from the base plate by pressing ledges towards each other, which ledges are integral with the hooks and protrude from the base plate.
Thus, the unlatching operation of those conventional hair clips is done by gripping the pair of ledges behind the ornamental cover. However, the insertion of the user's fingers into underneath the ornamental cover is not easy, because said cover is in close contact with her or his hairs. Especially when the ornamental cover is relatively large, the hair release becomes more difficult because of a large spacing between the periphery of said cover and the ledges.
In order to resolve this problem, the present applicant has proposed a novel type of hair clip as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,155. This hair clip comprises a release mechanism constructed such that the retainer only need be pressed towards the base plate having hooks or hooking arms. The pressed retainer causes the hooking arms to become so close to each other as to unlatch the retainer.
In detail, the hair clip in accordance with my preceding proposal comprises: a base plate attached to an ornamental cover and including a pair of brackets at one end and a pair of ledges at the other end; a hair retainer rotatably connected to the brackets at its one fixed end, said hair retainer having an engaging portion at its other movable end; a pair of hooking arms projecting inwards from the insides of the ledges, each arm including a leg portion capable of overlapping with the leg portion of the other arm; said engaging portion including a central dented part a pair of arched bridge parts at opposite sides of of the dented part; and a ring placed between the central dented part and the arched bridge parts, said ring having a central opening for allowing the leg portions of the arms to fit in when they overlap with each other for unlatching.
In use, this hair clip having the ring as a releaser may be removed from the user's hairs for example by pressing at first the movable end of hair retainer towards her or his head and thereafter rendering free the movable end.
When releasing the hair clip, the user need no longer insert her or his fingers in beneath the ornamental cover, contrary to the various prior art hair retainers, so as to operate the ledges. Instead of doing so, she or he who wants to remove the hair clip may simply press an end of the ornamental cover. Thus, it is a remarkable advantage that the hair clip can be removed very easily even if its ornamental cover is considerably large.
The hair clip according to my preceding proposal has however proved somewhat problematic from the following points of view.
The ring serving as the releaser has the central opening which, as mentioned above, is forced to fit on and receive therein the overlapped pair of the hooking arms. Therefore, the ring must be of a tenacity sufficient to withstand a strong outward and radial force which the forcibly fitted arms will impart to the ring.
Since the arms are strongly urged against the inner peripheral wall of the central opening, the ring must be highly resistant to abrasion. Further, the ring must not cause such an intensive friction that will hinder the arms from smoothly fitting in the central opening. Thus, the ring has to be made of a stiff material meeting all of the mentioned requirements, with the inner periphery of its central opening being nevertheless machined to have a less frictional finished surface, thereby raising the manufacture cost of such a ring.
It is noted that the ring, which is disposed between the central dented part and the opposite bridge parts both formed at the movable end of the hair retainer, is capable of moving up and down. Therefore a means for protecting the ring from slipping off is necessary, and this protecting means may comprise a pair of parallel guide posts extending from opposite longitudinal ends of the dented part. Correspondingly, slots are formed on the periphery of the ring so as to engage with the respective guide posts.
Such a protecting means will however make more complicated the structure of the ring and hair retainer. The manufacture thereof, in particular, the work for attaching the ring to the retainer becomes not easy but considerably intricate to raise production cost.
Outer hooking tip ends of the pair of overlapping arms are forced to rub the inner periphery of the central opening of the ring whenever the retainer is released. Thus, the tip ends are likely to be worn out so soon that the hair clip as a whole becomes less durable.